Body and mind : a history and a defense of animism / by William McDougall.

  • William McDougall
Date:
1920
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Body and mind : a history and a defense of animism / by William McDougall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Xll For it is matter of common knowledge that Science has given its verdict against the soul, has declared that the conception of the soul as a thing, or being, or substance, or mode of existence or activity, different from, distinguishable from, or in any sense or degree independent of, the body is a mere survival from primitive culture, one of the many relics of savage superstition that obstinately persist among us in defiance of the clear teachings of modern science. The greater part of the philosophic world also, mainly owing to the influence of the natural sciences, has arrived at the same conclusion. In short, it cannot be denied that, as William James told us at Oxford three years ago, “ souls are out of fashion.” But I am aware also that not one in a hundred of those scientists and philosophers who confidently and even scornfully reject the notion has made any impartial and thorough attempt to think out the psycho-physical problem in the light of all the relevant data now available and of the history of previous thought on the question. And I am young enough to believe that there is amongst us a considerable number of persons who prefer the dispassionate pursuit of truth to the interests of any system, and to hope that some of them may find my book acceptable as an honest attempt to grapple once more with this central problem. And I am fortified by the knowledge that a few influential contemporary philosophers adhere to the animistic conception of human personality, or at least regard the psycho-physical question as still open, as also by certain indications that the “ mechanistic dogma ” no longer holds the scientific world in so close a grip as during the later part of the nineteenth century. • ° Animism,” writes Professor Tylor, “ is, in fact, the ground¬ work of the Philosophy of Religion, from that of savages up to that of civilized men.”1 And, though modern Pantheisms have generally rejected Animism, the statement remains substantially correct. And it must be admitted that most of those who have defended Animism in the modern period have been openly or secretly moved by the desire to support religious doctrines 1 “ Primitive Culture,” i. p. 426.
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